Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Suiyuan

(Encyclopedia)Suiyuan swāˈyüänˈ [key], former province (c.126,000 sq mi/326,340 sq km), N China. The capital was Guisui (Hohhot). The region of Suiyuan, part of Inner Mongolia, is chiefly a high arid plateau; ...

Vermandois

(Encyclopedia)Vermandois vĕrmäNdwäˈ [key], region, N France, now in Somme and Aisne depts. The region is largely agricultural (wheat, beets) but has some industry (metallurgy, textiles, rubber) located principa...

Utica , ancient city, N Africa

(Encyclopedia)Utica yo͞oˈtĭkə [key], ancient N African city, c.25 mi (40 km) NW of Carthage. According to tradition, it was founded by Phoenicians from Tyre c.1100 b.c. Second in importance to Carthage, Utica u...

Amu Darya

(Encyclopedia)Amu Darya or Amudarya both: ämo͞oˈ däryäˈ, äˈmo͞o därˈyə [key], river, c.1,600 mi (2,580 km) long, formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Pandj rivers, which rise in the Pamir Mts. of ce...

Alexievich, Svetlana Alexandrovna

(Encyclopedia)Alexievich, Svetlana Alexandrovna, 1948–, Belarusian journalist and nonfiction writer, grad. Univ. of Minsk (1972). She was a working journalist before she began writing books in the 1980s. Her firs...

Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier

(Encyclopedia)Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier, 1920–2020, Peruvian diplomat, secretary-general of the United Nations (1982–92). He entered the Peruvian foreign service in 1940 and served in several posts, including ...

Babur

(Encyclopedia)Babur bäˈbər [key] [Turk.,=lion], 1483–1530, founder of the Mughal empire of India. His full name was Zahir ud-Din Muhammad. A descendant of Timur (Tamerlane) and of Jenghiz Khan, he succeeded (1...

Third World

(Encyclopedia)Third World, the technologically less advanced, or developing, nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, generally characterized as poor, having economies distorted by their dependence on the export...

Bassiouni, M. Cherif

(Encyclopedia)Bassiouni, M. Cherif (Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni), 1937–2017, Egyptian-American international criminal law jurist and human-rights advocate, b. Cairo. Bassiouni fought for Egypt in the Suez conflict (...

Salzburg

(Encyclopedia)Salzburg zältsˈbo͝ork [key], province (1991 pop. 482,365), c.2,760 sq mi (7,150 sq km), W central Austria, bordering Germany in the north and northwest. It is a predominately mountainous region, wi...

Browse by Subject